How Synergy Ministries’ volunteers raised $21,000 for their microfinance projects abroad

“There’s nothing that comes close to the effectiveness and power of CauseVox. Every ministry should use their platform.” – Andy Michaels, Synergy Ministries

Synergy Ministries raised over $21,000 through their CauseVox fundraising site. This case study reviews fundraising strategies, techniques, results, and lessons learned.

About Synergy Ministries
Synergy Ministries was founded in 2004, and is composed of volunteer business professionals and college students who provide management and information technology consulting services to microfinance organizations abroad.

Synergy Ministries Fundraising Site
CauseVox enabled Synergy volunteers to launch their own personal fundraising sites. Ultimately, ten volunteers reached out to their personal network of contacts, leading to 229 donations averaging $91 each, and resulting in $21,000 of collective contributions.

Fundraising Site Techniques
During their summer fundraising, Synergy, and their project teams, used several techniques to reach their goal.

• Fundraising Guide – Project volunteers were given a “how-to” guide for fundraising that contained sample appeals, timelines, and fundraising best practices collected from previous Synergy fundraisers. The guide helped first time fundraisers understand the basics of fundraising.
• Video Storytelling – Synergy created several videos throughout their campaign to show visitors what their organization was about. This helped drive new traffic to their sites and helped donors understand the mission of the organization.

• • Fundraising Ownership – Each Synergy project team member was in charge of raising a specific amount, and was given complete ownership of their fundraising commitments. Ultimately, each member successfully met their fundraising goals.
  • Branded Site – Synergy created their own personalized fundraising platform through CauseVox. It was hosted on their own domain name, with no redirects, which provided a seamless experience for donors and visitors.
  • Personal Fundraising – Each team member was able to create their own fundraising page and personalize it with a photo and a personal appeal. This helped team members convert their personal networks into donors.

• Training Weekend – At their annual event for project volunteers, Synergy held training sessions to help project team members gear up for fundraising. Synergy staff and experienced volunteers helped new volunteers with fundraising best practices.

Campaign Results
By the end of the campaign, Synergy Ministries raised over $20,000 through their CauseVox fundraising site. The funds raised went towards sending teams of volunteers from Synergy Ministries to Cameroon, Ghana, and India to build the capacity of local microfinance organizations.

Key metrics of the campaign include (rounded figures):

• Fundraising pages that raised $10 or more: 10
• Highest amount raised on fundraising page: $3110
• Average funds raised per page: $2000
• Average online donation size: $91
• Total number of online donations: 229

Lessons Learned

• Give your volunteers total ownership in fundraising and set specific goals
• Optimize personal fundraising efforts through training guides and face-to-face coaching
• Personal and direct appeals for support (i.e.- email) yielded the best results
• Integrate your fundraising site with the organization website to help generate direct traffic to your site